


3 Days of Night

by pigeonking



Series: The Missing Doctor Adventures - Season One [9]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-20
Updated: 2017-03-20
Packaged: 2018-10-08 11:26:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10385640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pigeonking/pseuds/pigeonking
Summary: It's 30 Days of Night meets Pitch Black with a timey-wimey conclusion....





	

Professor Bernice Summerfield stood on the bridge of the small Marlin Class cruiser that she currently found herself on looking at the imposing image on the view screen. The small crew of the ship, aptly nicknamed the _Van Helsing_ for this particular mission, were sat at their posts around her and were looking at the screen also.

There were six of them in all; Captain Elizabeth Nairn, a tall statuesque and beautiful black woman with long braided black hair, was sat in her command chair; the pilot, Pedro Ramirez was at the helm, he was a handsome tan-skinned Latino with crew-cut black hair and a neat goatee, dressed more casually than the rest with his 20th Century canary yellow Hawaiian shirt and blue jeans; Verasha was a Homo Reptilian Silurian and was as statuesque and beautiful as the captain, with her three-pronged crest and emerald scales; she was in charge of weapons and security; Doctor Carson Whelan was the medic, he was of average height with a shock of curly brown hair and brown eyes; Kathryn Whelan was the ship’s engineer and Carson’s wife; she had short black hair and hazel eyes and wore pale blue grease covered overalls, the sleeves permanently rolled up to her elbows; finally there was the civilian Brian Renfield, a slick looking  business man with a buzz-cut of blonde hair, perma-shades, that he never seemed to take off, obscured his eyes and he was dressed smartly in a silver-grey two piece suit. He was responsible for the funding of this expedition.

Bernice had been hired for her knowledge and expertise in vampire lore; something that would no doubt be crucial to their survival where they were headed.

On the screen there were two planets. One was huge, the other was not. It was like looking at two different sized coloured marbles suspended against a black canvas. The big planet completely dwarfed the smaller one and had engulfed the surface in a tyrannical shadow of pitch darkness.

However, the small planet was slowly and inexorably crawling towards the larger planet’s outer edge and was about to spin into a position where it would be lit up by the system’s sun.

“In about five minutes the sun is going to rise on Stoker III. That’s when we’re going to make our landing.” Bernice announced. “We will only have one hour to find what we came for before we have to get back to the ship and leave the planet before the day ends and the three day long night begins, and trust me… we do not want to be on Stoker III when night falls!”

“How are we supposed to even find what we are looking for in one hour, if our client will not even tell us what it is?” Verasha hissed, voicing a particular frustration that had been vexing them all since they had taken on this mission.

“The tracking device that I have will assist us in location of the ‘package’.” Renfield assured them all. “It is enough that you know that this package is very important to me. Am I not paying you all handsomely for your participation on this mission?”

“Even with your tracking device there is an awful lot of ground for us to cover in just one hour.” Captain Nairn reminded him.

“Which is why we will use the tracking device to pinpoint the approximate whereabouts of the package _before_ we land so that we can at least be certain of landing in the right area.” Renfield replied. “It will cut down considerably on the amount of ground that we will need to cover.”

“Well come on then.” Bernice said finally. “Let’s get going. We’re wasting valuable time standing here and arguing about it.”

“Take her in, Ramirez!” Nairn commanded.

Ramirez laid in a course for Stoker III and began his descent.

 

The surface of Stoker III could only be described as a barren, desert-like waste land. Sand and rocks were all that was visible as far as the eye could see, but there were also a number of cave systems scattered about the landscape like raised pot-holes on a sandy snooker table.

Not far from one of these cave entrances the sand began to billow as if invisible imps were stirring it up with invisible feet. A howling and grinding noise pierced the air and the rectangular blue shape of a police box materialised. Once the box had solidified it just stood there like a silent sentinel for a few short moments. Eventually one of the doors opened and the Doctor and Clover emerged, holding hands and giggling with each other as if laughing at some private joke.

The Doctor was wearing his usually attire of a long grey cashmere jacket, blue shirt and tie, black trousers and boots. Clover had changed her nano-outfit, before leaving the TARDIS, into a fetching casual ensemble that consisted of a white long sleeved polo-necked shirt with navy blue horizontal stripes and tight black jeans.

“Are you sure you didn’t want to stick with the skirt?” the Doctor asked her as he pulled the door shut behind him. “I liked the skirt!”

“I know you did!” Clover replied with a knowing smile and a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. “So where do you think we’ve landed, Doctor?” she asked, changing the subject deftly.

“Haven’t the foggiest idea.” He replied with a chuckle. “But maybe they’ll be able to tell us when they arrive!”

Clover looked to where the Doctor was pointing and saw the sleek, dart-like space ship coming down from the atmosphere and looking like they might land somewhere nearby.

“Let’s go and say hello, shall we?” the Doctor suggested. He took Clover by the hand and they headed off to go and meet the new arrivals.

As they headed away from the TARDIS they did not see the sand begin to stir beneath where the police box stood…

 

The Doctor and Clover made it to the space ship’s landing site just as the ramp was being lowered for the occupants to disembark.

Six people descended the ramp in all, every one of them carrying some sort of cylindrical weapon slung over their shoulder; there was a tall and beautiful black woman, an elegant Silurian female, a man with curly brown hair who walked hand in hand with a dark haired young woman, a smartly dressed business man with a blonde buzz-cut and shades and an athletic, attractive woman with short dark hair, dressed in faded blue jeans and a red polo-neck sweater.

This last one caught the Doctor’s eye and he broke into a joyous smile.

“Benny!!!” he exclaimed, “What on Earth are you doing here?”

The Doctor walked up to the bemused looking young woman, arms outstretched like a toddler playing aeroplanes, and he encircled her in a tight embrace. He was unaware of the daggers of jealousy that Clover was glaring into his back.

The woman patted his back awkwardly, uncertain of how else to react to this strange man’s sudden expression of affection.

“Erm… do I know you?” she asked.

The Doctor held her out at arms’ length; it was his turn to look bemused.

“Don’t you recognise me?” he spluttered incredulously; then his face brightened as realisation dawned on him. “Of course! It’s the new face, isn’t it?!”  

Then the light seemed to come on in the woman’s eyes too and she smiled.

“Doctor? Is that you?” she said uncertainly.

The Doctor looked at Clover over his shoulder, still holding onto the woman and still oblivious to his girlfriend’s glare.

“’Is it me’, she says!” he turned back to the woman, Benny. “Of course it’s me! Who else would I be?”

Benny squealed in delight and this time she was the one to fling her arms around the Doctor and squeeze him in a constricting embrace.

“It’s so good to see you again!” Benny exclaimed delightedly. This time she held him out at arms’ length and looked at him. “Damn, Doctor! You might want to keep this face! You look good!”

Clover cleared her throat loudly and the Doctor and Benny turned to her, still entwined in each other’s arms. The rest of the space ship crew stood all but forgotten behind them as this little reunion unfolded.

“Aren’t you going to introduce me to your girlfriend, Doctor?” Clover wondered with more than a little heat of anger in her voice.

“I’m sorry, Clover. How rude of me!” the Doctor disengaged from Benny and went over to her, taking her hand in his. “Benny, I’d like you to meet my dear, dear friend and saviour, Clover Daniels. Clover, this is Benny, or Professor Bernice Summerfield. She used to travel with me in one of my other incarnations.”

“If I remember rightly the incarnation after that one, we did a little bit more than just travel!” Benny smirked with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

Clover looked at the Doctor pointedly. “Oh really?”

The Doctor blushed despite himself.

“That was a whole other life, Clover. You know that.” He assured her.

“You still remember it though, don’t you?” Clover replied with an accusatory tone that she could not quite keep out of her voice.

“You know I do and I can’t help that, I’m sorry.” The Doctor told her.

“Do you guys need to be alone or something?” Benny asked.

And then there came another loud clearing of the throat behind them.

The Doctor, Clover and Benny turned back to the rest of the ship’s crew.

It was the tall black woman who had so effectively recalled their attention. She stood there with her arms folded across her chest, a wry smile on her face and one raised eyebrow.

“The clock is ticking, Professor Summerfield.” She reminded Benny, brandishing the chronometer strapped to her left wrist. “We have just under forty five minutes to find what we came for and get out of here before the sun goes down.”

“I’m sorry, Captain Nairn. This is the Doctor, an old friend of mine. I can totally vouch for him and if things end up going tits-up he’ll be just the man to help us.” Benny explained.

“What happens when the sun goes down?” the Doctor enquired curiously. “What planet are we on?”

“How can you know nothing of this planet?” the Silurian woman asked with a hint of suspicion in her tone. “Didn’t you do your research before coming here?”

“That’s not how the Doctor operates.” Benny replied on his behalf. “Sometimes the Doctor has no idea where or when he’s going until he gets there.”

“It’s more fun that way!” the Doctor nodded emphatically in agreement.

“So you expect me to believe that you being present on this planet at the exact same time as an old friend of yours is just a coincidence?” the Silurian sneered.

“That’s right.” The Doctor agreed.

The man in the business suit and shades was starting to fidget.

“Can we please get this moving? Talk while we walk or something?” he flashed his tracking device. “We now have less than forty minutes!”

“By all means, Mr Renfield. You know where we’re going. Lead the way!” Captain Nairn replied.

Renfield began to walk off in an easterly direction away from the ship and the others followed after him.

Bernice completed introductions along the way.

“You’ve all met the Doctor now.” She said, “This is his friend and companion, Clover Daniels. Doctor, Clover, this is Captain Elizabeth Nairn, weapons and security officer Verasha, Doctor Carson Whelan and his wife, Kathryn Whelan, the ship’s engineer and the civilian is Brian Renfield, the financer of this expedition and the reason why we’re here.”

“Pleasure to meet you all.” The Doctor graced them with an all-encompassing grin and wave. “Why exactly are you here and where are we?”

“This planet is known as Stoker III.” Bernice told him. “The reason why we’re all in such a hurry is because the day only lasts for an hour,” she consulted her chronometer, “Of which we now have only thirty minutes left. We do not want to be hear when the sun goes down. The nights here last for an equivalent of three Earth days and we do not want to be here for even a minute of one of those nights.”

“Why is that? Does it get very cold or something?” the Doctor wondered and then one of those metaphorical light bulbs seemed to go off in his head. “Wait a minute, did you say Stoker III?”

Bernice nodded as she realised that the Doctor was catching on.

“As in Bram Stoker? The author of _Dracula_?” the Doctor continued.

“Wasn’t he in one of the movies we watched back at the Manor?” Clover asked. “He was a vampire, right?”

“That’s right.” The Doctor confirmed. “And vampires like to come out at night. Imagine if that night lasted for three days!”

“You’ve got it in one, Doctor.” Bernice smiled grimly.

“You might want to use one of your swear words now, Clover.” The Doctor remarked.

“But you still haven’t told us why you’re here.” Clover reminded them.

“We’re here!” Renfield’s voice interrupted them suddenly.

They all looked to where the business man indicated. He was stood at the mouth of a particularly dark and foreboding cave.

“What we’re here for, Doctor, is something that belongs to me, and unfortunately it seems that it is inside that cave!”

 

Pedro Ramirez had watched his crewmates and the two strangers disappear over the horizon about ten minutes ago. He had been ordered by the captain to remain with the ship, just in case they had to take off and leave in a hurry.

Pedro had not minded too much at first, but now he was starting to get bored.

He looked at the chronometer. There were now only twenty minutes of daylight left.

That did not leave the others very long to find Renfield’s mysterious package and get back to the ship before sundown.

Pedro decided to run a few system checks while he waited. The last thing he wanted was for one of the engines to stall when they were in a hurry to leave. Kathryn was a fine engineer, but she seemed to spend as much time screwing around with her husband as she did tinkering with the engines.

All of a sudden Pedro was thrown forward violently in his chair. He held out his hands to stop his head from smacking hard against the console in front of him, but despite this precaution he still ended up on his ass.

Pedro picked himself up of the floor, rubbing his bruised derriere, but thankful that he wasn’t any more hurt than that.

“What the fuck happened there?” he wondered aloud to himself.

The front of the ship was leaning forward at a rather precarious angle. Pedro had to hold onto his chair to keep from sliding with the new gradient.

Then he was thrown to the floor again as the entire ship began to shudder as if caught in a sudden earthquake. This time Pedro landed heavily on his right wrist and he heard and felt the bone snap.

He screamed and writhed on the floor in agony, clutching his injured wrist to his chest as the ship continued to dip and sink and shake.

Somewhere within his pain-clouded brain he realised what was happening.

The ship was sinking into the sand. Not a slow, gradual sinking, but rather a rapid and violent descent into the shifting sands as if the craft were being pulled down by unseen hands.

Pedro tried to clamber to his feet. He had to try and get off the ship before it sank completely, or better still he should strap himself into his pilot’s chair and try to take off.

The pilot decided that the latter option was the more sensible one. He could not just let the ship sink, otherwise there would be no way at all for them to get off this planet.

Still holding his fractured wrist to his chest, Pedro somehow managed to retrieve his footing upon the shuddering and slanting deck and with his one good hand he hauled himself into his pilot’s seat.

On the view screen ahead of him he could see only a small patch of sky. The rest of the monitor was filled by the encroaching sand and that patch of sky was getting smaller by the second.

Pedro’s hand hovered over the console in front of him. He should probably contact the captain and tell her what was happening.

No time for that. He must move the ship first and then he could contact the captain.

The sky had completely vanished from the view screen and even the sand now was beginning to give way to something else and suddenly the descent of the ship halted and became stable once more.

On the view screen now there was only darkness, complete and utter pitch black darkness.

Pedro fumbled for the switch that would activate the exterior lights. Instantly the darkness on the screen was illuminated. He could see that he was in some sort of underground cavern that seemed to stretch on for miles. Had he seen some shape disappear out of sight when the lights had come on?

He remembered then that the hatch of the ship had been left open and the ramp was still down. No doubt some of the sand had spilled into the ship during the violent descent, but it was not sand that Pedro was worried about.

Suddenly the lights on the bridge flickered and died. If not for the sallow pale emergency lighting that instantly kicked in, Pedro would have been plunged into total darkness.

Pedro got up out of his seat, filled with a sudden desire to arm himself. He crossed to the door that would take him off the bridge and to the armoury. Fortunately the power for the doors ran on a separate circuit to the lights. The door whooshed open and Pedro fell screaming to the floor as something slammed into him quicker than he could blink.

He felt something long and sharp pierce his chest and as he experienced the excruciating sensation of having his life’s blood slowly drawn from his body he caught sight, for the first time, of the face of his attacker.

Pedro screamed again.    

 

“We can’t go in there.” Verasha insisted. “We wouldn’t stand a chance against all of the vampires that are probably living in there.”

“There is another way that we could retrieve Mr Renfield’s package.” The Doctor suggested.

“We’re all ears, Doctor.” Captain Nairn prompted.

“We could use my TARDIS. We could be in, grab the package, then out again before the vampires even know we’re in there.” The Doctor told them.

Nairn turned to Bernice.

“You have travelled with the Doctor before, is what he suggests possible?” she asked.

Bernice frowned and cocked her head sideways as she remembered how erratic the Doctor’s TARDIS could be, unaware of course that this wasn’t exactly her Doctor and it certainly wasn’t the same TARDIS.

“Theoretically yes, it could be done.” She replied eventually.

The Doctor clapped his hands and rubbed them together gleefully.

“Well that settles it then.” He proclaimed. “Follow me and we’ll be back at my TARDIS before you know it.”

He began to lead them away.

“We’ll have to be quick!” Verasha urged. “We only have ten minutes of daylight remaining.”

Almost in unison they broke into a brisk jog.

 

The sun was beginning to dip dangerously below the horizon as the group arrived at the spot where the Doctor was certain that he and Clover had left the TARDIS. There was just one problem.

The TARDIS was no longer there.

“It was right here! I know it was!” the Doctor shouted in frustration. He had his sonic sword in his hand and he was scanning the area. “The Artron energy levels are consistent with the TARDIS having been right here!”

“We have no choice.” Nairn decided. “We’ll have to radio Ramirez to come and collect us. There’s no way that we could run back to the ship in time now. We need to get out of here fast!”

She began speaking into her communicator.

“We can’t leave without my package!” Renfield protested angrily.

“We can return in three days’ time when the sun comes back up.” Bernice assured him. She turned to the Doctor and Clover. “You’ll have to come with us on our ship. When we come back for the package we’ll also help you find the TARDIS.”

“There’s a problem.” Nairn cut in as she came off the radio.

“What is it?” Bernice asked.

“I can’t raise Ramirez on the radio. Something must have happened to him.” Nairn told them grimly. “Now we have no ship to come and save us and we are shit out of time and luck!”

The sun disappeared behind Stoker III’s gargantuan neighbouring planet and the tiny desert world was plunged into darkness. 

Almost immediately a shrill, inhuman piercing shriek filled the air, but it was a cry that was taken up by many mouths and seemed to come from everywhere at once.

“I knew I shoulda worn brown today!” Clover remarked as the eerie calls gradually subsided.

Captain Nairn and the rest of her crew unslung the cylindrical weapons that they had been carrying.

Clover noticed for the first time, as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, that the barrels of each weapon resembled the end of a very high powered torch flash light, rather than an actual gun.

“Be prepared!” Nairn instructed calmly. “They’ll be coming!”

A loud humming sound filled the air. It sounded like the wings of many bees or flies coming their way, from every conceivable direction, only these bees or flies sounded as big as human beings.

“Wait for it!” Nairn said quietly.

The humming was getting closer and closer.

Clover could just make out the shapes of many somethings flying towards their position.

“NOW!!!” Nairn shouted.

Nairn and her crew had formed a circle around the Doctor and Clover, as they possessed no weapons, and as one they activated their cylindrical weapons. The dark encroaching shapes were suddenly illuminated by dazzling high powered beams of light. Those that were caught directly in the beams were incinerated immediately, their bodies seemed to crumble and turn to ash the moment that the light touched them. Any immediately behind them were also caught in the glare and were also completely desiccated. The rest were able to fall back and retreat into the darkness.

Nairn and her team kept the lights running as a deterrent, but for now the creatures had been repulsed.

“Those didn’t look like any vampires that I’ve ever seen before!” the Doctor remarked once the immediate danger was over. “They looked like giant humanoid insects, reminiscent, I’d say of oversized mosquitoes!”

“That’s right.” Bernice nodded. “We call them Sqeets. They evolved as the dominant predator on this planet many generations ago. They have an insatiable thirst for blood, but have little to no tolerance to light of any kind.”

“They wiped out all of the natural food sources on this planet long ago.” Doctor Whelan added, “But they’ve evolved so that when food is scarce they go into a sort of self-induced hibernation that lasts until food becomes available again. Needless to say that our presence here has woken them up!”

“Well, I don’t see what we have to worry about so long as you fellows have got these light guns.” The Doctor observed.

“I’m afraid that these ‘light guns’, as you put it, are a temporary defensive measure at best.” Verasha told him. “The amount of power needed to deliver the necessary light wattage that is lethal to the Sqeets drains the battery packs quite quickly. I’m afraid that they’ll only keep us safe for another hour at the most.”

“Then we’d better get moving and find my package!” Renfield insisted.

“I do have one suggestion that might help!” the Doctor cut in, raising his hand slightly like a timid school boy.

“What is it, Doctor?” Captain Nairn wondered.

The Doctor took out his sonic sword. “It’s actually more like two suggestions.” He said almost apologetically. “If I could take three of your light guns, I can use my sonic to lower the wattage so that they will still keep the Sqeets at bay, but aren’t quite powerful enough to kill them. That way they won’t use so much power and we may actually double the battery’s life span. We can keep the three more lethal guns in reserve for emergencies and that way they’ll last longer too.”

“Good thinking, Doctor.” Verasha praised.

Bernice, Kathryn and Renfield all handed over their weapons for the conversion.

Once the Doctor had finished with them and handed them back the dimmer lights were activated.

Nairn, Verasha and Doctor Whelan turned off their weapons to conserve the power.

The group tightened together and those with the lights were positioned at strategic points so that there was no way that the Sqeets could get in at any of them.

They started to walk in this formation as quickly and carefully as they could.

“What’s your second suggestion, Doctor?” Nairn asked.

“Excuse me?” the Doctor replied.

“You said you had two suggestions remember?” Bernice reminded him.

“Oh yes!” the Doctor brightened. “It was only that instead of looking for Mr Renfield’s package we should probably try finding the TARDIS. I reckon it must have been dragged underground and if we access one of the nearby caves, tracking the Artron energy emissions, we should find it easily enough and then we can use it to find what Renfield came for.”

“No deal, Doctor! We are finding my package first!” Renfield insisted.

“I just think it would make sense to have a means of escape available before we do anything else.” The Doctor argued.

Renfield was about to argue further, but Captain Nairn cut in first.

“I think it’s a good idea.” She said. “We’ve lost contact with Ramirez and our ship. Whatever happened to it is probably the same as whatever happened to your TARDIS. As soon as we find your package, Renfield, I want us to be able to get off this rock immediately. So we are finding that TARDIS first, do you hear me?”

“Do I have to remind you that I am financing this expedition!?” Renfield snarled angrily.

“For your own purposes!” Nairn retorted. “Need I remind you that mine was the only crew that agreed to this mission, providing that Professor Summerfield came along as our vampire expert? I’ve already lost one crew member. If finding that TARDIS will increase the chances of getting us all off this planet in one piece then that is exactly what we’re gonna do, have you got that, Renfield?”

Renfield did not reply, but just continued on sulkily. He would bide his time for now.

The party made their way back to site where the TARDIS had landed, except this time they headed for the nearest cave entrance. All along the way they were surrounded by the Sqeets that encircled their little group like an encroaching tide of blood thirsty man-sized cockroaches, staying just out of reach of the lights. Those Sqeets that were in their path cowered from the light so that the group of people were moving through an ever shifting mass of the blood drinking monsters and when they passed the Sqeets would close in behind them again ever careful to steer clear of the light.

In this way they finally reached the entrance of the cave nearest to where the TARDIS had landed.

“This is it!” the Doctor declared. “The Artron emissions definitely indicate that my TARDIS is in there somewhere.”

“What are we waiting for?” Nairn announced with grim determination. “I for one will be glad to get in there. Those things won’t be able to surround us quite so easily.”

Keeping to their defensive formation the little group entered the cave. The Sqeets cautiously skittered into the cave behind them.

Inside the cave there was now no need to defend the sides of their formation. Bernice led the way, keeping her light pointing ahead of them whilst Kathryn and Renfield brought up the rear to keep the Sqeets off their back.

There was, however, one angle that lay undefended.

The cavern was beginning to twist round to the right when the attack came.

A pair of hooked insectoid forelimbs lanced down from above and impaled Doctor Whelan through both shoulders. He screamed in agony as the barbed hooks embedded deep into his flesh and bone, his blood oozing forth and then he was just yanked upwards into the darkness. His shrieks of pain and terror echoed around the cavern, seeming to come from every direction.

“Carson!” Kathryn cried as her husband’s dying screams assailed her. She pointed her light up at the roof of the cave illuminating several more of the creatures that were clinging to the rocky surface. As soon as the light touched them the screeched in torment and retreated back into the darkness. In that split second when Kathryn’s light was not pointing out to cover the back of the group another of the Sqeets managed to dodge passed Renfield’s light and fasten its hooks into the flesh of Kathryn’s thighs. Her anguished cries of grief turned to screams of pain and she was dragged to the floor and away into the blackness before anything could be done to save her.

Verasha stepped into the gap left by her fallen crew mate and turned on her light gun. The effects were instant and devastating. Any Sqeets that may have had similar inclinations to the one that had grabbed Kathryn were immediately reduced to ashes and any behind them retreated far out of the reach of the deadly rays. Then the Silurian made a quick sweep of the roof of the cavern above them. Ash rained down on them from the Sqeets that were caught in the bombardment. Very soon there were no Sqeets visible within the immediate vicinity covered by the range of their lights deadly or otherwise.

“We need to find that TARDIS now!” Verasha insisted. “They’ll try again soon enough and we’re now down by two lights.”

They continued on through the pitch black of the cavern in their little bubble of light. Soon enough Bernice’s light picked out a familiar blue shape ahead of them and she smiled as she recognised her former home.

“The TARDIS!” she declared happily.

“That’s the TARDIS?” Nairn proclaimed doubtfully.

“She certainly is!” the Doctor replied defensively.

As a unit they made their way to the police box as quickly as they were able to and disappeared into the sanctuary that it offered as soon as the Doctor had the door open.

Once inside there were the usual remarks about how big the interior was compared to the exterior.

“Yes, yes! Bigger on the inside I know!” the Doctor waved them down as he set to work at the console. “Would you like to give them the talk, Benny?”

Clover looked a bit hurt that she hadn’t been asked to give the talk, but she let it slide.

“This is the TARDIS,” Bernice dutifully explained. “Stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space. The Doctor travels anywhere he likes in it through time and space.”

“So this is a time machine?” Renfield perked up with sudden interest.

“That’s right!” the Doctor answered without looking up from the console. “Now if you’d like to give me your wee tracking thingy then perhaps I can lay in some co-ordinates so that we can finally go and pick up your package!”

He looked up from the console to see that Renfield was now covering him with a blaster.

“I wouldn’t try anything funny.” Renfield said quietly. “This is set to kill and I will use it if I have to!”

“There’s no need for any of that!” the Doctor insisted, raising his hands. “I’m about to take you where you want to go anyway!”

“You don’t understand.” Renfield told him, stepping back carefully so that he could cover everyone with the blaster at once. “The ‘package’ that we’ve all been referring to is my sister. Her name is, was, Clare and she was always a bit of a daredevil. She used to love taking off in her little space cruiser and go joy riding through asteroid belts and the like. Last year her ship ran into some trouble and she came down on this planet. It’s taken me this long to get together this little expedition to bring her home.”

“You do realise that she is dead by now, surely?” Verasha said in a gentle tone that one would normally use to placate an angry dog.

“Of course I know that. I wanted to retrieve her body so that I could take her home for a proper burial.” Renfield explained. “But now I have the opportunity to do something even better than that!”

The Doctor cottoned on instantly to what Renfield had in mind.

“I’m sorry, but that’s out of the question!” he protested. “I cannot take you back in time to save her life. You’ve been tracking her remains on this planet. That means she’s already dead! There’s nothing I can do to change that!”

“How have you been tracking her exactly?” Clover wondered.

“Our parents had us both injected with micro tracking devices when we were very young children. They wanted to be sure that if we ever went missing that they would be able find us. Coming from a rich family there was always the possibility that someone might try kidnapping one or both of us for the ransom money. They’ve never been used, until now.” Renfield told her. He returned his attention to the Doctor, but his blaster was now pointing at Clover.

“You will try and save my sister, Doctor or I will kill Clover and I’ve seen just how much she means to you!” Renfield insisted menacingly.

The Doctor closed his eyes and bowed his head in defeat.

“Alright, I will try!” he agreed. “But I am going to need as much information from you as possible so that I can materialise the TARDIS to just the right moment to save her!”

“I think I can provide that.” Renfield nodded.

“Then let’s get to it then!” the Doctor declared.

 

Clare Renfield was tearing her way through an asteroid belt at faster than light speed.

She knew the dangers, but then again, if there were no risks then she probably wouldn’t be doing it.

Her little ship, which she called _Tommy_ after the pinball wizard in that classical musical from the 20 th Century, pinged about the asteroid field like it was a little pinball itself, inside a great big machine. She always managed to pull the ship just short of touching any of the actual asteroids. The adrenalin rush that this gave her was so exhilarating that she considered it to be better than sex. Her handful of past lovers had not done much to disprove that.

She was panting breathlessly, almost with orgasmic pleasure as she careened wildly from one great big space rock to another and then… CRUNCH!!!

The unthinkable happened as _Tommy_ clipped one of his engines against one of the asteroids a little too closely for comfort.

The little ship was sent spinning end over end out of the asteroid field and it took all of Clare’s piloting skills to set herself right again. She glanced over at the fuel gage and cursed under her breath.

The impact had ruptured the fuel tank and now _Tommy_ was pissing it away into space faster than a centipede walking across hot coals.

Clare’s only hope was to try and reach the nearest planet with a breathable atmosphere and send out a distress signal.

She scanned the vicinity for such a planet and swore very loudly when she found it. Why did it have to be Stoker III?

Oh well, she thought, beggars can’t be choosers. She began to steer _Tommy_ towards the little planet.

Clare was just entering the planet’s atmosphere when she heard a howling and grinding noise behind her pilot’s seat. Craning her neck round as far as she could she saw a large blue box with a flashing light on top suddenly appear out of nowhere.

The door opened on the box and Brian stepped out.

“Brian?” Clare exclaimed in amazement. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“There’s no time to explain, Clare. You’ve got to come with me. I’m here to save your life!” Brian explained quickly.

“But…” Clare began.

“Don’t argue!” Brian insisted. “We haven’t got time! Just come on!”

Clare unbuckled herself and got up out of her seat.

“Get into the blue box!” Brian told her.

Clare went to do as she was told, but paused in the doorway. The surface of the planet was getting larger and larger in the cockpit window.

Brian was strapping himself into Clare’s pilot seat.

“Brian, what do you think you’re doing?” Clare protested. “Aren’t you coming?”

“I’ve realised something, Clare.” Brian told her. “There has to be a signal for me to track when I come looking for you, otherwise I’ll never be able to save you!”

“I don’t understand!” Clare cried. There were tears in her eyes now, flowing freely down her cheeks.

“This was always meant to happen. I love you, Clare!” Brian answered simply.

“I love you too!” Clare replied and then she stepped into the blue box.

The door closed behind her and seconds later the howling and grinding noise filled the air and the blue box faded away.

 _Tommy_ impacted with the surface of Stoker III.

 

The TARDIS rematerialized one year later in the cavern on Stoker III where Brian Renfield’s remains lay. Verasha and Captain Nairn kept Clare Renfield covered with their light guns as she went out to retrieve her brother’s remains so that she could bring him home.

A short while later the TARDIS was landing again, this time on board the nearest space port to drop off her passengers.

The Doctor and Clover bid farewell to Captain Nairn and Verasha and saw to it that Clare got onto a transport ship with her brother’s remains so that she could return home in order to begin funeral arrangements. After that all that remained was to say good bye to Bernice.

“You could come with us you know!” the Doctor said as he encircled Benny in a warm embrace. “Travel in the TARDIS again for a while. You’re always welcome!”

Bernice pulled away from the hug and kissed the Doctor on the cheek. She looked knowingly at Clover.

“I think I’ll pass on this occasion, Doctor. Two’s company, but three’s a crowd!” she replied.

Bernice turned her attention to Clover and offered her hand to shake.

Clover accepted the shake with a smile.

“Good bye, Benny.” Clover said. “It was nice meeting you.”

“Likewise!” Bernice agreed and she deftly pulled Clover towards her, turning the handshake into a hug. “If you guys ever decide that you want a _ménage a trois_ then be sure to look me up, you here?”

She kissed Clover on the cheek and gave her a cheeky wink.

Clover linked arms with the Doctor as they watched Bernice walk away.

“I think I like her.” Clover told him whilst giving him a peck on the cheek.

“I always did.” The Doctor agreed. He turned and unlocked the TARDIS and ushered Clover inside.

“By the way!” he added as he followed her in. “What’s a _ménage a trois_?”

 

**The End**


End file.
